You’re an introvert. You do your best work when you can think a problem through alone in a quiet space. You express yourself better in writing or when you have a heads up before a meeting.

But your company is cool! So your office resembles a sweatshop: large rows of desks squished into a concrete room with minimal sound deadening. And you company culture encourages team work! So anyone can call you or stop by your desk with immediate requests of varying levels of emergency. You’re always being put on the spot, only later to think of who would be best qualified to answer the question, what a better solution might be, or where an inefficiency could be eliminated.

In my talk, I’ll frame my learnings from Quiet by Susan Cain and Introvert Power by Laurie Helgoe with personal experiences about how to function effectively in offices unfriendly to introverts. I’ll explore how American culture rewards those who speak the most over those who have something to say.